JANUARY
Fri 18th Jan – Sat 26th Jan 2013 at 7.45pm(not Sun)
Glorious
by Peter Quilter • Directed by Adam Bambrough
‘Glorious’ was not the only adjective used to describe Florence Foster Jenkins’ singing. Peter Quilter’s hilarious comedy is based on the true story of ‘The First Lady of the Sliding Scale’, an eccentric socialite who was firmly convinced of her greatness as a virtuoso singer – despite not having a musical bone in her body! Set in the 1944, the year of her final, sell-out performance at Carnegie Hall.
Thurs 31 Jan – Sun 3 February at 7.45pm
‘In The Bar’ – Very Still and Hard to See by Steve Yockey (BLT Edinburgh production)
FEBRUARY
Fri 15th – Sat 23rd Feb 2013 at 7.45pm (not Sun)
A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg
by Peter Nichols • Directed by Wayne Sheridan
A comedy/drama about a couple caring for a physically disabled 10-year-old girl. The play still feels unsettlingly frank in its depiction of carers under stress and uses the driest of dark humour to demonstrate how people need coping mechanisms. Both hilariously funny and bleakly sad ‘Joe Egg’ is a modern British classic.
Thurs 28 Feb- Sun 3 March at 7.45 pm
‘In The Bar’ – Very Still and Hard to See by Steve Yockey (BLT Edinburgh production)
MARCH
Fri 15th – Sat 23rd Mar 2013 at 7.45pm (not Sun)
The Government Inspector
by Nikolai Gogol • Directed by Jane Buckland
Celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, this hilarious farce explores the old themes of greed, corruption and dishonesty. When the locals in a small town in Russia learn that an undercover government inspector is coming for a surprise visit, an unfortunate case of mistaken identity sends the village spiralling into panic. Witty, smart and wildly satirical, The Government Inspector exposes the corruption of a provincial town with biting hilarity. Recently received to great acclaim at the Young Vic, BLT members will have the rare opportunity of enjoying this great comedy classic. As well as being nominated as ‘BLT members’choice’, The Government Inspector will be BLT’s entry into the 2013 Bromley Theatre Guild Festival.
APRIL
Fri 19th -27th Apr 2013 at 7.45pm (not Sun)
The God Of Carnage
by Yasmina Reza (Translated by Christopher Hampton) • Directed by tbc
Two urban couples meet up to ‘sensibly’ discuss the fight that ocurred between their two sons, but tempers flare as the evening degenerates into childish bickering and sniping as the masks – and gloves – come off! A scathingly hilarious dissection of bourgeois hypocrisy and pretence.
MAY
Fri 17th – Sat 25th May 2013 at 7.45pm (not Sun)
Dancing At Lughnasa
by Brian Friel • Directed by Jane Lobb
Premiered in 1990, Dancing At Lughnasa won both Olivier and Tony awards and is regarded as one of Brian Friel’s finest plays. August 1st is La Lughnasa – the feast of the pagan god Lugh and in the summer of 1936, in rural County Donegal, seven-year-old Michael lives with his large family. Life is simple but making ends meet is hard and when his sisters acquire their first wireless radio, what dreams they dare to dream! The Munday sisters laugh, cry and famously dance as the dusk sets on the life they know and lost loves and opportunities blow away for ever. This magical, moving memory story is filled with dark humour and tenderness – a vital, life-affirming play about ambition, belief, love and loss. Last seen at BLT in 1994 – a revival of this exceptional play will surely be welcomed by all our members.
JUNE
Fri 14th – Sat 22nd Jun 2013 at 7.45pm (not Sun)
Snoopy!!! The Musical
by Charles M. Schulz,Warren Lockhart, Arthur Whitelaw Michael L. Grace, Larry Grossman & Hal Hackady • Directed by Tony Jenner
Snoopy!!! The Musical was the second stage musical based on Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip, the first having been You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown in 1967. Snoopy!!! The Musical was nominated for an Olivier Award in 1984 and for Musical of the Year. The show is a series of self-contained vignettes from the comic strip and feature all of the usual suspects: Charlie and Sally Brown, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Linus, Woodstock and of course, Snoopy. Each vignette has a song that involves various members of the Peanuts gang. A bright, fun, toe tapping show to get us into a Summer party mood.
JULY
Fri 12th – Sat 20th Jul 2013 at 7.45pm (not Sun)
Anne Boleyn
by Howard Brenton • Directed by Pauline Armour
Almost constantly sold out during the summers of 2010 and 2011 at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Original Boleyn Girl comes to BLT! Brenton’s script turns past ills into present laughter – and reveals the Tudor pack at their most snarling, scheming, ribald, pleasure-seeking and gaily entertaining. History lessons are not really supposed to be so such fun but Howard Brenton’s vision of the truncated life – and afterlife – of the Tudor queen is a bawdy, raucous romp packed with ripe, modern language that still manages to address some serious issues in depth. Anne Boleyn has drama, royalty, sex, intrigue, hilarity; in short, as much entertainment value as a Tudor execution!!
Fri 26th – Sun 28th Jul 2013 at 7.45pm
Youth Theatre Show (TBC)
26 – 29 September
‘In The Bar’ – tbc
SEPTEMBER
Fri 13th – Sat 21th Sep 2013 at 7.45pm (not Sun)
Moonlight And Magnolias
by Ron Hutchinson • Directed by Stevie Hughes
In 1939, producer David O. Selznick halted filming of the most expensive and eagerly anticipated movie ever (Gone With the Wind), sacked its writer and director and hired Wizard of Oz director Victor Fleming and script doctor Ben Hecht. This is the starting point of Ron Hutchinson’s hilarious screwball comedy. Based on Hecht’s own memoirs, the writer and director find they have all been locked in Selznick’s office by the desperate producer, fed nothing but bananas and peanuts to sustain them (“brain food”) by his secretary, and ordered to thrash out a new screenplay, working round the clock, in less than five days. And because Hecht has never even read the book, Selznick and Fleming have to act out the whole saga for him, scene by scene! This affectionate homage to the golden days of Hollywood has a script that goes off like a firecracker as the three caged monkeys gradually go bananas!
OCTOBER
Fri 11th – Sat 19th Oct 2013 at 7.45pm (not Sun)
TBC
Directed by Dan Armour
See future Spotlights and BLT website for details.
NOVEMBER
Fri 8th – Sat 16th Nov 2013 at 7.45pm (not Sun)
Plaza Suite
by Neil Simon • Directed by Paul Campion
Following the great success and sell-out performances of Neil Simon’s hilarious California Suite which opened our 2012 season in January, we follow up with his Plaza Suite which is again composed of several short plays each involving different characters set in the same suite. This time it’s New York City’s Plaza Hotel!
21 – 24 November
‘In The Bar’ – tbc
DECEMBER
Fri 6th – Sat 14th Dec 2013 at 7.45pm (not Sun)
The Flint Street Nativity
by Tim Firth • Directed by Nikki Packham
A hilarious and touching comedy of Christmas misunderstandings about what happens when you’re not playing Mary! The infants at Flint Street School prepare for their first nativity performance: the Virgin Mary has a fierce competitor in the spiteful angel Gabriel; Wise Man Frankincense is verbally challenged by a lisp; Herod rages like a footballer hacked down mid-match and the Innkeeper behaves like a psychopath. Oh, and baby Jesus’ head has fallen off. Fretting about their offspring’s impending public performance, the adults row, rage and obsess just as much as their children do to hilarious effect. Joyful, daft, and deeply Christmassy, BLT’s grown-up seasonal treat is perfect for adults and the child in all of us. •
‘IN THE BAR’ 2013: Shows TBC in January, March, April, June, September and November (including one by the Youth Theatre and one we hope to take to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2013). If you have a suggestion for a show, please email: artistic@bromleylittletheatre.org